The Jobseeker’s Allowance (Schemes for Assisting Persons to Obtain Employment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2014

PART 1 Schemes for Assisting Persons to Obtain Employment

Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Jobseeker’s Allowance (Schemes for Assisting Persons to Obtain Employment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2014 and shall come into operation on 2nd June 2014.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“claimant” means a person who claims a jobseeker’s allowance, except that in relation to a joint-claim couple(1) claiming a joint-claim jobseeker’s allowance, it means either or both of the members of the couple;

“the Housing Benefit Regulations” means the Housing Benefit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006(2);

“the Housing Renewal Grants Regulations” means the Housing Renewal Grants (Reduction of Grant) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004(3);

“the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations” means the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996(4);

“the Order” means the Jobseekers (Northern Ireland) Order 1995;

“working day” means any day except for a Saturday, Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday or bank holiday under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971(5) in Northern Ireland.

(2) For the purpose of these Regulations where a written notice is given by sending it by post it is taken to have been received on the second working day after posting.

(3) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954(6) shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Assembly.

Schemes for Assisting Persons to Obtain Employment

3.—(1) The scheme described in the following paragraph is prescribed for the purposes of Article 19A(1) of the Order (schemes for assisting persons to obtain employment: “work for your benefit” schemes etc).

(2) Steps 2 Success is a scheme designed to assist claimants who are unemployed, to find and sustain employment by offering such support as the Steps 2 Success Provider considers reasonable and appropriate in the claimant’s circumstances for a period of 12 or 18 months. This support is subject to a Service Guarantee and may include work search support, provision of skills training and work experience placements.

Selection for participation in a Scheme

4.—(1) The Department or the Department for Employment and Learning may select a claimant for participation in a scheme described in regulation 3.

(2) The scheme in which the claimant is selected to participate is referred to in these Regulations as “the Scheme”.

Requirement to participate and notification

5.—(1) Subject to regulation 6, a claimant selected under regulation 4 is required to participate in the Scheme where the Department or the Department for Employment and Learning gives the claimant a notice in writing complying with paragraph (2).

(2) The notice must specify—

(a) that the claimant is required to participate in the Scheme;

(b) the day on which the claimant’s participation will start;

(c) details of what the claimant is required to do by way of participation in the Scheme;

(d) that the requirement to participate in the Scheme will continue until the claimant is given notice by the Department or the Department for Employment and Learning that the claimant’s participation is no longer required, or the claimant’s award of jobseeker’s allowance terminates, whichever is earlier; and

(e) information about the consequences of failing to participate in the Scheme.

(3) Any changes made to the requirements mentioned in paragraph (2)(c) after the date on which the claimant’s participation starts must be notified to the claimant in writing.

Circumstances in which requirement to participate in the Scheme is suspended or ceases to apply

6.—(1) Paragraph (2) applies where a claimant is—

(a) subject to a requirement to participate in the Scheme; and

(b) while the claimant is subject to such a requirement, the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations apply so that the claimant is not required to meet the jobseeking conditions(7).

(2) Where this paragraph applies the claimant’s requirement to participate in the Scheme is suspended for the period during which the claimant is not required to meet the jobseeking conditions.

(3) A requirement to participate in the Scheme ceases to apply to a claimant if—

(a) the Department or the Department for Employment and Learning gives the claimant notice in writing that the claimant is no longer required to participate in the Scheme; or

(b) the claimant’s award of jobseeker’s allowance terminates,

whichever is earlier.

(4) If the Department or the Department for Employment and Learning gives the claimant a notice in writing under paragraph (3)(a), the requirement to participate in the Scheme ceases to apply on the day specified in the notice.

Exemptions from requirement to meet the jobseeking conditions

7.—(1) A claimant who is participating in the Scheme is not required to meet the conditions set out in Article 3(2)(a) and (c) of the Order (conditions for entitlement to a jobseeker’s allowance: available for and actively seeking employment) if the claimant is a full-time student.

(2) In this regulation “full-time student” has the same meaning as in regulation 1(2) of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations.

(1)

“joint-claim couple” is defined in Article 2(1) of the Jobseekers (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 as inserted by Article 56 and paragraphs 2(3) and 3(4) of Schedule 7 to, the Welfare Reform and Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1999

(2)

S.R. 2006 No. 405; relevant amending Regulations are S.R. 2008 Nos. 112 and 428, S.R. 2010 No. 69, S.R. 2011 No. 357 and S.R. 2012 No. 44

(3)

S.R. 2004 No. 8

(4)

S.R. 1996 No. 198; relevant amending Rules are S.R. 1996 No. 358, S.R. 1998 No. 326, S.R. 1999 Nos. 428 (C. 32) and 391, S.R. 2000 No. 350, S.R. 2001 No.120, S.R. 2002 No. 80, S.R. 2003 No. 195, S.R. 2004 Nos. 163, 308 and 389, S.R. 2005 No. 550, S.R. 2006 No. 97, S.R. 2008 Nos. 112 and 428, S.R. 2009 Nos. 107 and 141, S.R. 2010 No. 69, S.R. 2011 Nos. 291 and 357 and S.R. 2012 No. 44

(5)

1971 c. 80

(6)

1954 c. 33 (N.I.)

(7)

See Article 19A(10) of the Order for the meaning of the “jobseeking conditions”